Live From the Miracle

[bonstersd]

Still need the rest of this review please!

[mykeb14]

Following

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Kokomo_Man]

Sorry for the delay in getting the rest of the review up. Here's the next installment.

 

Sea Day – Homeward Bound

 

I’ve lost track of which day of the week it is... which day of the cruise it is or what the date is. No, it’s not the tequila. It’s because that’s what cruises are supposed to do… make you forget about stuff. Hummmm… maybe the tequila is partly to blame.

 

Today is a sea day… the first of two to get back to Long Beach. I suppose I should put a sad face in here because we’re heading north… back to the Frozen Tundra. But for now, it is still warm enough and I’m writing this morning from the Lido deck. It’s the first time the Lido has been crowded.

 

We just passed back by Cabo and it’s still warm with a nice sky. You know… pale blue with only a few of those wispy white cotton clouds. This is one of those nice warm, laid back days that are the reason I cruise. To all my cruise friends and especially the Funatics… I wish you were here.

 

I want to tell ya’ll about this ship… at least my opinion. I start out by saying that I like this ship. I’m not sure I can tell ya why. It’s sorta like why I like chocolate ice cream over all other flavors. I don’t know why, but I just do.

 

I guess it started when I crossed over from the gang plank and just set foot on board. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. You see, the walls are adorned with naked nymphs to greet you as soon as you board. I suppose these are “artsy”, but hey… I’m just a guy. While they are in no way Playboy pin-ups or anything like that… there are some very tastefully done bare women. I’m tempted to try to make a funny here, but I would probably get in trouble for that, so I’ll let you make up your on funny.

 

 

There are also a few of these that verge on child pornography. None of the young girls portrayed are showing anything objectionable, but if I had that on my computer I would certainly be accused of being a dirty old man. Ok... I am a dirty old man, but not when it comes to kids. Before I move on… I should warn you that there are statues of bare breasted mature women in lots of places on the ship. Since I’m a dirty old man, it’s all fine with me, but don’t say I didn’t tell you about it.

 

Before I tell more about the ship I should mention that I’ll post a whole bunch of pics of everything I’m talking about. Since you can’t post them directly on here and because my web-site hosting package is almost full, I’ll be posting then on http://www.facebook.com/kokomomantoo

 

Moving on… this is an up-side-down ship. Well… sorta up-side-down. Every ship I’ve been on before this one... no matter what brand... has had the Promenade Deck on deck 5. That’s where all the shops, casino, and night-life are. On those ships, decks 3 & 4 below have the atrium bar, guest services, photo area, etc. But on this ship it’s up-side down. The Promenade deck is on deck 2… almost down in the bowels of the ship. Just about everything is on the Promenade… the atrium bar, guest services, discos, and the casino. The photo place, shops and a couple of night venues including the Piano Bar are one floor above on deck 3.

 

At the front of the ship, still on the Promenade Deck (2), is the main show room with its balcony on deck 3. Then if you walk all the way to the aft of the ship, on the Promenade Deck, you get to the main dining room. Traditional dining is on the Promenade deck (2) and any-time dining is just above on deck 3.With the exception of cabins on deck 1, all the cabin decks are above the promenade… weird

 

I should mention that there is a lounge in the area just forward of the dining room on the Promenade Deck. If you get to the dining room early, this is where you wait till they open the doors. Don’t go early for the late seating because you may do irreparable damage to your ears. You see... this is where they do Karaoke and the Karaoke starts at 8:00 PM.

 

To kinda borrow from Smokey the Bear… Only you can prevent ear damage… and remember, friends don’t let friends karaoke.

 

I’ve been trying to figure out the theme of this ship. It seems that she doesn’t know what she is. The Lido deck (9) is the British Navy deck. Really… all the tables are tiled kinda like the British Flag. The walls in the buffet area have lots of British looking stuff, and there are large models of three masted sailing ships. The models are quite detailed and elaborate… I like them a lot. The pillars all around the pools have busts of a British looking sailor guy. I think it may be Capt’n Heratio Hornblower… but then I don’t know what Capt’n Hornblower looks like.

 

 

Way down in the bowels on deck one, the corridor walls have what could have been book covers from books Ivenho, Don Quixote, Sherlock Holmes, Robinson Crusoe, and the like. So I guess this deck is themed as an adventure literary deck. Maybe this fits in with the Lido’s Hornblower theme. I guess I’m not enough of a literary expert to know how the naked nymphs on the Prominade and Deck 3 fit in. Perhaps those are more musical decks… “Bare Naked Ladies”.

 

 

The casino area on this ship seems quite large considering this isn’t as big as all the newer ships. There are plenty of machines for those that like that, and plenty of tables for live gaming. There is also a large lounge area right there at the casino bar. For the smokers, there are ample seats at the bar and plenty of tables for you too. I don’t smoke, but lots of my cruise friends do and I like to spend time with them enjoying a frozen concoction to help me hang on. So, this is a good area for all. It has enough room and is well ventilated for us non-smokers. I don’t know how Carnival lost their way on many of the newer ships.

 

There was mention earlier about some kind of engine problem on this ship. I still don’t know what it is for sure, but I sat in the rear of the main dining room for breakfast this morning… ummmm… make that brunch. With all the “liquid refreshment” of the last couple of days, I slept in this morning. No… no hang over ‘cause that was gooooood tequila.

 

Anyway… for breakfast we were seated right at the window at the stern of the ship. It has a great view, but you could really notice quite a vibration. All ships have some vibration, but I have not previously experienced this much. It wasn’t so bad that I asked to be moved, but it was a little annoying. Despite the great view, I wouldn’t want to eat there all the time.

 

I’m going to stop for now. It’s time to find a frozen concoction to help me hang on and a hot tub to drink it in.

 

Bob

Searching for Kokomo… and a hot tub without whales.

[Kokomo_Man]

Sea Day – Homeward Bound part doux

 

It’s the second sea day on the way back to Long Beach. You can tell we’ve been heading north for a while because it’s gotten a bit chilly. Yesterday the pools and Lido deck areas got a work-out. Today, everyone has brought back out their hoodies and jackets. No... it’s not the Frozen Tundra, but it’s not the Caribbean either. When you sail the Pacific from Long Beach this time of year, you have to expect it to be a bit chilly during the northern parts of the cruise.

 

One of the best ideas Carnival came up with a few years ago was the “Serenity Deck”. On most ships, they turned deck areas that were mostly unused into an adults only area. They put more comfy chairs and loungers in the area... a hot-tub or two... and presto-chango they created an area that is highly sought after. Not only is it comfy, but you get away from all the “happy sounds” that young human beings make.

 

Don’t get me wrong... I like the “happy sounds”. In fact, I somehow like cruises with lots of kids on board. At the opposite end, are the early November cruises when the age of the average person on board is just short of the age of dust. I just like the smell of suntan lotion much better than the smell of Vapo-Rub. But... it’s nice once in a while during the height of the craziness to escape to the Serenity area.

 

The Destiny has a very nice Serenity area. I suspect it wasn’t an unused area on this ship because it has one of the ship’s two swimming pools. There’s also a smalish hot tub. If you want to get into this hot tub you will soon be good friends with anyone in there. Just be careful who you are playing footsies with. There’s a great bar area with lots of nice seats and some tables. The rest of the area is typical of the Serenity Decks... nice loungers, clam shells, a few hammocks, and an overall nice area.

 

 

Now for the bad news... the Serenity area it isn’t big enough. The pool is quite small and on a warmer cruise, it wouldn’t accommodate a lot of people. It was just ok for this cruise most of the time. On days when the weather was nice, neither I nor Zach & Amy were ever able to find a place to sit anywhere in the area except for right at the bar. All of the other seating area was taken. In the afternoon, it wasn’t a problem of “chair hogs” because almost everything had a human body in it. So, in the end, I didn’t spend any time to speak of in the Serenity area.

 

(There are a few more pics of the Serenity area over on KokomoManToo.)

 

With only a couple of exceptions, service throughout the ship was very good during the cruise. We had an especially good main dining room crew, and the room steward was like a magic elf. We made a mess... then unseen elf slipped into the room, waved his wand and everything was tidy and new again. There were a couple of very good bartenders... one at the Lido deck bar, and one at the casino bar in the evenings. I wish I could say the same about a couple of other of the bartenders. There were times that they were very slow... and not for good reason either. This was especially true at the atrium bar. For some reason the bartenders just seemed to be concentrating on a few people... maybe I didn’t tip enough. But those were the exceptions. Service every place else on the ship was top notch.

 

I went to a second show in the main lounge. Wow!!! Two main lounge shows in one cruise... that’s really very rare for me these days. Anyway... this one was every bit as good as the first one if not better. It was a Beatles music tribute. Again, the live orchestra played and they were great. (More about the orchestra in a minute.) By the time the show was over, they had everyone up signing and dancin’ in the isles. There was even one guy in an outrageously “loud” shirt with parrots all over it... disco dancin’.

 

I still lament that Carnival is eliminating the live orchestra for their shows. However... I have it on good authority (Carnival’s Brand Ambassador) that the orchestra on the Miracle will stay there and perform in other venues during the cruise. That’s very, very good news. I really liked them a lot. With the addition of a couple of singers, they played a few sets around the ship. Those were some of the best-attended evening venues when they were playing.

 

The ship is going into dry dock soon and will be getting some of the “2.0” upgrades. I’ll be happy to see the Ferengie Burgers and the Red Frog pub. But other than that, I hope they don’t completely change the ship. I liked it just the way it is... bare naked ladies and all. This ship has a character all it’s own. Although I like the new decor approach Carnival has gone with in recent years... the Breeze & Sunshine (Destiny 2.0)... it’s nice to sail on something a bit different.

 

(As I’m sure you know, I’ve been putting up these last posts after I’ve returned home to the Frozen Tundra. I’ll post a wrap-up with my final thoughts in a day or so.)

 

Bob

Searching for Kokomo… and another cruise to some place warm.

[Shilee11]

Going on this cruise late Feb, the last cruise before the dry dock, staying right near the back on deck 6, I guess I better be ready for vibrations from the engine :-/... Curious tho if you seen any whales? I know it's whale season, I booked a whale watch excursion in Cabo :) Great Review!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Kokomo_Man]

Wrap Up

 

This was a good cruise. Once we got far enough south, the weather was good... maybe not as good as a Caribbean cruise, but it was mild just the same. That said, sailing out of Long Beach (or Los Angeles) in the wintertime is risky. Even with the mild weather, during two of the six days it was too cold for us to spend time by the pools on the Lido deck. That’s my favorite thing to do on sea days and I missed it all except for one day this cruise.:(

 

I usually wear my bathing suit and flip-flops on some part of every day during a cruise, but not this time. I only spent a couple of days in my favorite cruise attire. So... it’s likely that I won’t do any more Pacific Mexico cruises in the winter. Perhaps I’ll try it again this spring because I did like the ship, Cabo, and Puerto Vallarta.

 

I told you in the beginning that I would let you know how the “Booze package” worked out for me. If you recall, I “cheated” the system and was buying for two yet only paid for one. Well... I really didn’t cheat anyone out of anything after all. By the end of the cruise I had purchased a total of 39 drinks. Nine of those were sodas. Of the thirty “booze” drinks, three were rum & coke ($5.75 each) and the rest were boat drinks or Bloody Marys which cost $8.75 each. I should note that the sodas were not full cans of soda. Rather, they filled a glass with ice and then poured part of a can into the glass. The receipt I signed for each soda showed the cost at $1.50 each.

 

I should tell you that there were a couple of days that I tried very hard to get my money’s worth... the sail away day, and next to last sea day. Even then, the most Bloody Mary and I drank was 13 and that included a few sodas. One of the things that kept our overall drink count low was the two shore days when we didn’t drink much booze on the ship. There had been plenty of tequila while ashore.:D So... the grand total that I would have spent on board if I bought all the drinks individually would have been $267.00. The actual cost of the “Cheers” package was $299.70. (Neither of these totals included the automatic 15% gratuities.) Keep in mind; this was the total for two people using one Cheers package for all the drinks. Since Bloody Mary and I are both such “lightweights”, I won’t do the Cheers package again.

 

As you know, except for a post or two, this wasn’t really “live from.” Back when I started doing these I thought my “live” approach was different from the traditional review. I had lots of fun telling you about the stuff happening on the ship... as it was happening. And I think a lot of folks had fun reading my musings about all the quirky stuff on board. However, as I mentioned early on, I’m boycotting Carnival’s internet till they change the internet packages to something much more reasonable. As a result, my “live froms” have become just another review. You can find lots-n-lots of reviews on Cruise Critic and I really can’t add much to them.

 

So... this will be my last “Live From” till Carnival changes its Internet packages. It’s not fun or different if it isn’t “live” and I’m not willing to be ripped off anymore by the prices. I have seen some stuff lately about improved Internet so maybe I’ll get back to doing “real” live from posts in the future. Until then, I leave you with my favorite parting quote:

 

“May you always have fair winds and following seas... and long may your big jib draw.”

Bob

Searching for Kokomo... and fair priced Internet on the high seas.

[pirate4me2]

Thank you for another great review.

[san diego sue]

Thank you for that informative and fun reading review (semi live).

We haven't sailed on Carnival since 2002 but are sailing on The Miracle

in two weeks. Looking forward to our cruise. We usually cruise Princess and from what I read in your Live, am now really looking forward to this cruise. We love Cabo so two days for us will be great.:D:D